Wednesday, June 1, 2011

My Eyes are Not as Wide Open as I Thought They Were....

Four Corners, Monday Night - A Bloody Business. Watch it. It is horrendous and gut-wrenching.

If you do not understand how to slaughter an animal humanely, even after years of supposed education paid for by the industry that is supplying you with the animals to kill in the first place then you and that industry are both blindly stupid, negligent and promote animal cruelty and torture. How long would have these barbaric practices continued without the public knowing, how long was this going to continue on without any improvements in the end conditions for future animals?

If Australia cuts the ties for supplying Indonesia and other countries with live animal exports and deplorable killing conditions, then other countries will step in to fill the void (make the money). Then, as big business is prone to do, will not only export and kill their animals inhumanely, but raise, feed and transport those animals inhumanely as well. All to make money. Will we be as upset if those animals are not Australian cows?

Food is business.

If you do not grow and raise your own produce then you are subject to big business and its practices. As soon as there is money to be made, corners will be cut and animals will always be the ones to suffer.

As a developed nation, Australians are very good at not even being aware that we have our heads in the sand. Ask no questions and you will be told no lies. As long as the money is rolling in then we are happy little campers. We love our booming economy.

The killing conditions have been going on for years in Indonesia despite supposed multiple attempts at educating the staff at abattoirs on how to kill humanely. Someone has not been doing their job properly and it is only when the Australian public are brought to awareness by shocking video footage that we start yelling our outrage. Shame on us Australia. You are happy to reap the profits but turn a blind eye to what happens to animals after they leave our shores.

...and don´t get me started on slow racehorses or those who are now to old to race and win money lest I disturb your planning for your pretty little fascinator and outfit for the Melbourne Spring racing carnival..

or slow greyhounds..

or slow harness racing horses...

or the continuation of caged chickens so that you can have your omelette for breakfast...

or how pigs are kept so that you can eat your bacon...

or feedlot fed cattle in the USA..

or Premarin Mares (Pregnant Mare Urine) kept pregnant AND in a feedlot so that you can have your female hormones as ¨menopause is a disease¨. The foals born are then either retained and put into the ¨pee line¨ or fattened up and sent to slaughter for horse meat which is then shipped to overseas markets...

So sit on your leather sofa with your sheepskin ugg boots on smugly confident that your yelling outrage will make a difference. How do you reconcile your previous 10 or so years of existence while millions of other cows and livestock died in agony?

This is globalisation, baby.

Who do we take a stand against?

Live animal exporters?

Incompetent education practices and educators?

Meat eaters?

Foreign slaughterhouses?

Cattle Farmers who engage in exporting Australian beef to overseas markets rather than feeding and employing in their own backyard?

The Australian Tax Department for making all transport costs fully tax deductible meaning that we can fling our produce all over the world without having to be mindful of transport costs and end stage living and killing conditions?

Politicians?

Readers of my blog will already know my stance on meat consumption.

You want to eat meat? Raise it and kill it yourself. OR know where your cow is living and what it is eating and who slaughters it. Familiarise yourself on what you are feeding your family. Don´t dumb it down. ¨Pork¨ is dead pig. ¨Beef¨ is dead cow. These are animals that lived their lives to be killed for our consumption. The least we can do is advocate for their entitlement for optimum living conditions, a quick and a quick painless death.

I actually do not know the answer for the issues raised by Four Corners, but it disgusting that it has been going on for so long unchecked, unregulated, unknown (to the international public) and with those animals not having a voice to advocate for their rights.

I am guilty of ignorance about the plight of beef cattle in Indonesia, and that makes me sick to my stomach. How long before the furore dies down and we forget about the plight of future cows whose destiny lies in these slaughterhouses regardless of their origin? How long will it be before we return to putting our heads back in the sand and be completely unaware that we have done so?

.....and what about all of the other animals that exist and die in suffering all around the world to feed the human population? Do we pick and choose our causes?

If you were put off of my post about slaughtering my two little pigs, then watch the video and then re-read it. My little pigs had a great life and quick death. They suffered no torture and no fear.

I though my eyes were wide open, after A Bloody Business, they are not as wide open as I thought.

5 comments:

Like you, I believe if I am going to eat meat, I have a responsibility to know how it was raised, how it was slaughtered and how it was prepared for sale. I used to believe that halal slaughter was quick and clean; that the animal was killed with utmost respect... Those cattle weren't respected.

You're right - simply taking our cattle away will not change the practice. But dear god, like watching the Japanese whalers leaving Hobart's docks, how can we watch our cattle leave Darwin's?

Over ten years is too long to "facilitate change". As that ballsy reporter said, should those cattle suffer while we stuff around with politics and business.

Oh Daffodil how well said. I grew up on a farm and around the butchering of animals for food and never in my life have I been so horrified, disgusted, ashamed and sick to the stomach about the production of meat.It is just not right what is happening in Indonesia and if we can stop the live export of animals to Egypt then we can stop it to Indonesia. And if they don't like it then they should raise their own animals, and if they do not have enough land to support the animals they require then they should not eat meat.The bottom line is that no animal should be tortured and that is what Four Corners showed.With today's technology there is no reason any animal should be transported to another country to be slaughtered there.Australians need to wake up to the situation and the government needs to take action. The latest is a possible ban to some facilities identified in the story http://www.maff.gov.au/media_office/media_releases/media_releases/2011/may/ludwig-announces-suspension-of-trade-to-certain-facilities But is it enough.

Thank you all for comments on this post. Again, I have very strong views about the consumption of meat and it is not aligned with the majority of the meat eating public. I am not one to purchase meat in a pretty little plastic tray with a spring of parsely. I am into the passionate full on knowing how my animals were raised and slaughtered. This is off putting to many, I am still dreading the trolls visiting me and leaving nasty comments based on frivolous fairy tales and not hard core reality.

I am not into meat as a commodity, it IS a luxury. We are expecting these animals to grace our plates for our consumption, respect is paramount through birth, life and death. Even pulling out a Don or Hamelot sirloin steak from the freezer and thawing and cooking it up, we still have respect for the meat. We do not mindlessly consume, but we always bear in mind that these two little pigs were once a part of our farm. We only ever cook up one small steak each and enjoy with a passion the sweetness and delicacy of the meat...

...and for those that must know, our pigs were fed two home cooked meals every day. Rice, oat and wheat porridge with fresh fruits and vegetables in season.

About Me

I am looking to reduce my carbon footprint without withdrawing from society completely. I would love to live a self sufficient life, but with owning and riding horses and still paying taxes to afford my hobbies, I will settle for what I can grow, make, create, barter, reuse, recycle and repurpose.